A funny thing happened when I got engaged. After nearly a year of engagement, it’s no longer comical. I’m having trouble being polite about it now. I’m starting to wish I had eloped. I became nothing more than a bride. With the exception of my closest friends, it seems no one knows what to say to me except, “How is the wedding planning going?” Maybe this wouldn’t be a problem if I had more interest in planning my wedding. But I am the world’s most lackadaisical bride. I’m the polar opposite of a bridezilla. Case in point: When my mother freaked out about how we were going to decorate the stage for the ceremony (nine months before my wedding), I appeased her by saying we could add some plants. She asked what type of plants I wanted. I replied, “Green ones.” People I have known for years no longer have anything to say to me except to ask about my wedding. People I barely know have offered to help plan it. People are also great …

Originally posted on MiddleMe: We often are caught in between in our lives, whether it is from one friend to another or an over caring relative asking when are you going to get married for the ample time or your mother asking you how is work. Unless you are going to dump all the work troubles like how your boss bullies you, your tea mates are shunning you because you are dating someone from the rival team and you just accidentally deleted an important file from your company’s data server, hoping no one will find out… All on your mother’s lap. No? Then you probably going to lie to your mother when you say “Everything’s fine at work, Ma. Oh, nothing beat your meatloaf! Can I have some to bring home?” This is a white lie. You do it because you don’t want your mother to worry about you and also you don’t want to go into lengths on how you happened to know someone from the rival team while gobbling down the delicious meatloaf.…

Originally posted on Confessions of a 20-something: The “I’m in a hurry” business person. They whisper their order while on the phone. Just a double espresso for them. They throw their card at you and of course don’t bother to tip. They will bump into someone and cause them to spill their freshly prepared triple tall, no room, extra hot, soy latte. Does the business person stop and offer to buy a new latte for them? Nope. They have to get into the office. Now. P.S. You get decaf espresso. The triple tall, no room, extra hot, soy latte lady. It took her years to get her order just right, so she doesn’t care if it takes everyone behind her in line years to get their’s either. “Um, are you sure this soy?” The work-from-home outlet hog. Working from home does not mean working from Starbucks. You order a drip coffee when you first arrive and then stay there for hours taking up space and hogging the outlet because you want a change of scenery? Move over, I need…

Malina Suliman derives from a traditional and conservative town, Kandahar, in Afghanistan. After receiving threats regarding her rebellious street art she relocated to the Netherlands. Her work examines the burqa’s place in Afghan culture and other struggles of her generation in Afghanistan. Suliman is also the founder of the Kandahar Fine Arts Association (KFAA).

Originally posted on teenmusing: Hullo, peoples! (Perhaps today should be a British day. It is quite rainy.) Today’s topic is one I’ve been mulling over for quite a while now, and I’d love to know your opinions on it. Everybody fears things. Fear is an emotion that aims to STOP! us. Being frightened can stop us from doing something hurtful to ourselves or others. Fear can hold us back as well. If we’re so afraid of the risk that we can’t see the good that will come out of it, then fear is detrimental. Sometimes there will be negative consequences, and we have to be prepared for those. But you can’t have a fulfilling life while you’re hiding behind the safety rails. There are rational and irrational fears, and fears that fall somewhere in between. I have all of them, but I can’t let the irrational ones control me. I want to be honest on this blog. In real life, I am very much a chameleon; “who I am” changes with my surroundings. Perhaps that’s not…

Originally posted on The Uppity Negro: It’s time for a new black male aesthetic. Especially one that captures decolonized postmodern black masculinity as well as one that has ontologically transcendent capabilities. In simpler terms, an aesthetic that allows for black masculinity to not be defined by archaic norms in the realm of fashion, black male-to-male relationships and how one images themselves for the sake of respectability politics. The year 2012 was significant for black male masculinity on several fronts, far too many to discuss here, many of which were around how black men were entering public conversations about black women and black male privilege in social media spheres, to the way that black urban fashion had shed much of its nascent hip hop bagginess trading it in for fitted and skinny jeans, Obama was running for re-election, same-sex marriage in black religious circles was a hot-button topic as the president came out in favor of it, more and more young people were freer to talk about sex and sexuality and at the same time the demographic remained woefully…